Defense Sec. Austin on Sexual Assaults in the Military: ‘What We’re Doing Is Not Working and We Need to Fix It’
SecDef tells senators to expect proposed changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice
With sexual assault and rape sharply on the rise in the US military, it's time for military brass and Congress to consider changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ, is the legal framework that governs all members of the United States military.
That's the message Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday during a hearing on the Biden administration's fiscal year 2022 federal budget request.
“As you know, my first directive as secretary of defense issued on my first full day in the office was to service leadership about sexual assault. I made it clear then and I still believe that we must not be afraid to try new approaches to change our minds so that we can truly and fully address the scourge of sexual assault in our force,” said Austin, a retired four-star Army general President Biden tapped as his chief at the Pentagon. “And clearly what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working and one assault is too many. The numbers of sexual assaults are still too high and the confidence in our system is still too low.”
Some 20,500 servicemembers were sexually assaulted or raped in FY18, according to military statistics provided by Protect Our Defenders, a Washington DC-area advocacy organization working against sexual assault and rape in the US military.
The rate of sexual assault and rape jumped almost 40 percent from FY16 to FY 18, and for women the rate increased over 50 percent — to the highest level since 2006, according to data provided by Protect Our Defenders (POD).
Of women who reported a penetrative sexual assault, 59 percent were assaulted by someone with a higher rank than them, and 24 percent were assaulted by someone in their chain of command, according to POD.
Meanwhile, an astounding 76.1 percent of victims did not report the crime in FY18, POD said.
It's within the context of statistics like those that Austin vowed that the military — and its leadership — would do better.
“The independent review commission that we established has provided me with an initial set of recommendations starting around the issue of accountability. In this line of effort is focused on how the crimes are investigated and prosecuted. I’ve shared these recommendations with General Milley and the civilian and military leaders of the service branches and I’m reviewing the feedback that they provided me,” Austin told senators, referring to Gen Mark Millet, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “There will be additional recommendations coming to us on from the [commission] on prevention, culture and victim support and I look forward to receiving them as well and making my full recommendation to the president later this month.
”As I’ve said before, what we’re doing is not working and we need to fix it. And I want to be sure that whatever changes we make to the UCMJ or whatever changes to the UCMJ that I recommend to the president and ultimately to this committee that they are scoped to the problem that we are trying to solve, and have a clear way forward on implementation and ultimately restore the confidence of the force in the system,” the defense chief added. “You have my commitment to that and my commitment to working expeditiously as you consider legislative proposals. So whatever changes we make I believe we need to focus on effective implementation and resources. And I know I will need your help.”